NEW ROCHELLE, NY — The Iona College men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams opened up the 2015-16 campaign in splashing style Friday with a pair of wins at Holy Cross at the Hart Center Pool.
The women’s team dominated the Crusaders, taking 15 of 16 events in the meet and cruising to a 169-122 win. The men claimed 10 of 16 events, posting a 173-121 win in their first visit to the Worcester, MA pool in over two decades.
The women started the meet with a win in the 200-yard medley relay with seniors Leigh Musselman and Maryellen Mangione teaming with sophomores Alex DiBiase and Elizabeth Kaczmarek to clock a 1:54.76 for the win. Sophomore Laura Mongillo, juniors Katie Nevin and Maria Lopez and senior Melissa Dorsch took second at 1:56.21.
In the 200-men’s medley relay, Iona finished second and third with sophomores David Ciavarelli and Chris Vadala, freshman Jude Zamora and sophomore Zack Holbrook falling just .02 short of the Crusaders team at 1:40.33. Freshman Matthew Bosse, sophomore Sam Braziel, junior Dylan Mechanic and senior Tommy Keefe were two seconds behind at 1:42.43.
In the 1000-freestyle both the men and women went 1-2-3 with sophomore Kaitlyn Mahon and freshmen Maria DiBella and Demetra Laurent posting respective times of 11:02.42, 11:08.32 and 11:11.70. The men’s side saw Sophomore Christian Foti, junior Collin Purrman and freshman Owen Badin record times of 9:58.45, 10:19.22 and 10:36.22 respectively to secure the Gaels a lead they never relinquished.
Action in the 200-Freestyle saw Kaczmarek win at 1:59.95, with sophomore Alex Aliaopoulios and freshman Sydney Thompson taking fourth and fifth. The men’s race saw junior Matthew Rothman and freshman James Barnola take second and third with respective times of 1:49.17 and 1:50.31.
The 100-yard backstroke had Iona go first and second in both the women’s and men’s races. On the women’s side Musselman won at 1:02.54, with freshman Jessica Schmidt at 1:02.65. Sophomore Laura Mongillo, took fourth for the Maroon & Gold. The men’s race saw Ciavarelli win at 54.65 with freshman Matthew Bosse second at 56.65 and junior Jay Lessard fourth.
The 100-breaststroke had Mangione win at 1:11.27, with Nevin second at 1:118.87.The men’s race had sophomore Chris Vadala win at 1:02.42, with Braziel and junior Brendan Chan in fourth and fifth, respectively.
The 200-yard butterfly saw DiBiase win at 2:15.18, with Laurent and sophomore Kendall Magill in third and fourth respectively. Purrman fell .09 short of Holy Cross’ Tyler Wright posting a time of 2:00.61, with Mechanic and senior Daniel McGovern in third and fourth with respective times of 2:01.60 and 2:06.02.
The splash and dash 50-free saw Schmidt win her first collegiate individual race at 25.76, with Dorsch and junior Natalie Bowman going 25.87 and 25.94 for third and fourth place. The men’s race saw captain Keefe win at 22.50, with Holbrook second at 22.64 and Zamora fourth at 23.02.
Iona’s lone diving competitor on the day was senior Alicia Raffle, who opened up the season with a strong second place effort with 189.53-points.
The 100-freestyle saw Bowman win at 55.75, with Musselman and Dorsch third and fifth respectively at 58.13 and 58.43. The men’s race had Rothman take second at 48.81, with Holbrook third at 50.20.
The 200-backstroke had a pair of Iona freshmen win their first individual collegiate races. DiBella went 2:15.65 on the women’s side as Bosse went 2:02.23 for the men’s win. Schmidt and Mongillo took third and fourth in the women’s race with Badin and Lessard taking the same places in the men’s race.
The 200-breatstroke saw Iona go 1-2 in both the women’s and men’s races. Mangione and Nevin went 2:32.72 and 2:40.77, respectively as Vadala and Braziel posted respective times of 2:14.65 and 2:22.58.
The 500-freestyle was another 1-2 finish on both the women’s and men’s races with Mahon (5:27.18) and Laurent (5:29.57) and Foti (4:52.99) and Barnola (5:02.25) taking the top spots in the women’s and men’s events.
The 100-yard butterfly had DiBiase win the women’s race at 1:01.61. Zamora took his first collegiate race at 54.05 in the men’s edition.
The 200-yard individual medley saw Kaczmarek and DiBella place 1-2 respectively at 2:15.65 and 2:20.41. Collin Purrman took the men’s race at 2:02.65.
The meet’s final two races saw the Iona quartet of Schmidt, Bowman, Mangione and Kaczmarek touch first at 3:46.96. The men’s team of Rothman, Holbrook, Zamora and Foti touched first at 3:16.82.
Speaking of the win, Coach Nick Cavataro noted, “This was a very solid opening meet for our group. We got contributions from every team member and they competed well and identified some areas where we need to be better.”
The Gaels face the Big East’s Providence Saturday morning.